I don’t have much to say, but I’ll point to this extremely long and technical article about the DRM “features” in Vista (courtesy of Sirlin, via Quad).
I don’t expect anyone to read through the entirety of that thing. Hell, I know I didn’t. Started skimming about a quarter of the way in when I realized it wasn’t going anywhere but downhill. I will say this: if that article is even close to accurate, it is some seriously scary shit. Any other qualms you may have about Vista pale in comparison.
I’ll save you the time, and jump straight to its chilling conclusion:
As a user, there is simply no escape. Whether you use Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 95, Linux, FreeBSD, OS X, Solaris (on x86), or almost any other OS, Windows content protection will make your hardware more expensive, less reliable, more difficult to program for, more difficult to support, more vulnerable to hostile code, and with more compatibility problems. Because Windows dominates the market and device vendors are unlikely to design and manufacture two different versions of their products, non-Windows users will be paying for Windows Vista content-protection measures in products even if they never run Windows on them.
In other words, we’re all screwed. “We” not as in people who buy and install Vista, or people who buy computers preinstalled with Vista, but we as in all Windows users, Mac users, Linux users, computer users, and we as consumers of electronic media.
A hefty claim, to be sure. Here’s hoping the shit doesn’t hit the fan.